January 23, 1961

Mad dog roams in White River Township

       White River Township firemen were called upon Tuesday evening to assist a deputy sheriff in finding a rabid dog that was reported to be running loose in the community.  The dog was found and destroyed 15 minutes after the firemen stated their search.  The dog owned by Herbert Baker, of near Bargersville, left home early Tuesday morning and Baker was called home by his wife after she found that the canine was missing.  The dog was not in the habit of leaving the Baker yard.  Baker started his hunt about 11 a.m. and got a trace of the dog when he talked to residents of Stone’s Crossing.  Deputy Sheriff James Hague was called in to assist in the hunt with Baker and Hague, a former member of the fire department in White River, requested the services of the firemen from Chief Russell Young.  In tracing the dog’s foot steps, Baker found out that it had bitten about eight dogs and probably had bitten several other animals in crossing the fields.

         Since firemen operate as a manpower emergency unit, Hague could think of no one better qualified to assist him than the men who respond quickly.  It was 6 p.m. when Hague notified Young, who enlisted four other men rapidly and explained that the dog would be hard to find if it got dark.  At 6:15 p.m., the dog was found and destroyed in back of the Rice Sinclair Station at the intersection of Highway 135 and the Greenwood-Smith’s Valley road.  The dog was declared definitely rabid.

         First word that the dog was rabid came from a passing motorist who saw the dog among some sheep.  It was biting the sheep and acted rabid, according to the motorist.  After finding that the dog was sick and rabid, Chief Young started a telephone relay message system that notified a great number of people near where the dog had been in an effort to allow the people to check their stock and children as well.  Young called several people and asked them to call other neighbors to be on the lookout for rabid symptoms in their animals.

         Robert Boren, Greenwood veterinarian, pointed out that the first appearance of rabid condition of a dog shows up in altered behavior which usually includes a change of voice and barking more than usual.  The second stage of rabies is the furious condition when the dog will attack anything, will eat anything and everything, run away from home, saliva will appear frothy.  The first stages occur in about two or three days.  The third stage is paralytic and this dog will begin to wobble, has little use of its legs and the paralysis continues until the dog can’t move and dies.  Neighbors in the vicinity where the dog traveled are given a warning to check their livestock and report any strange behavior in the animals.  Firemen who assisted in the hunt were Young, Hinkle, Ralph Wilson, Paul Herzog and Bob Kelso.  (Reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal)
    

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